St.Pol-Nuncq

50°18'47"N 002°18'32"E

runway: 02/20 - 1000x..m/3300x..feet - concrete (estimated)
runway: 11/29 - 1000x..m/3300x..feet - concrete (estimated)

Air field St.Pol-Nuncq (French: Aèrodrome St.Pol-Nuncq, also known as Nuncq-Frevent, Nuncq-Framecourt, or Hautecôte) was an airfield 160 kilometers north of Paris.
The airfield was built in 1939 by the British Expeditionary Forces. It had two runways, parking for a squadron (81 Sqn) of aircraft, and its own railway connection for delivery of construction materials and supplies. It lacked any buildings, such as hangars though. It opened in the winter of 1939/1940.

A De Havilland Tiger Moth Mark I, possibly belonging to No. 81 Squadron RAF, becomes the first British aircraft to land at the new airfield at Nuncq, near St. Pol, France. (© IWM (F 3912)).

During the Battle of France the airfield had to be abandoned. The airfield was taken over by the Germans and some improvements were made. Strangely enough they did not station any units at the airfield. Instead it was put on Care and Maintenance, with temporary obstructions on the runway from 1942. The Germans did build a Gefechtsstand (a command and control bunker) between the airfield and the railway tracks. The airfield was bombed by the Allies at least once. In January 1944 the Germans made the runways unusable by blowing holes in the runways in regular patterns.


Birds eye view of St.Pol-Nuncq heading west on 3 June 1945

Because it was not used during the war, the airfield survived the war largely intact. Aerial photography from 1947 shows a fairly complete airfield. Demolition and bomb damage repairs had not been made though. Between 1962 and 1963 the airfield was demolished. Today nothing remains of the former airfield. Only the old Gefechtsstand bunkers are still at the location.


St.Pol-Nuncq airfield, as photographed in 1947. The Photothèque Nationale, IGN, France has a much larger JPEG2000 photo available for download at Geoportail. It shows the regular pattern of the airfield demolition charges, the bomb  craters from an air raid and the location of the railway station at the airfield.


The airfields demolition was nearly complete in March 1963, when this photo was taken (IGN.fr).


The location of the airfield in 2004 (Google Earth)